


A Dark and Stormy Night

by SonjaJade



Category: Fullmetal Alchemist - All Media Types
Genre: Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Gen
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-12-02
Updated: 2016-12-02
Packaged: 2018-09-03 17:09:16
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 915
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/8721886
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/SonjaJade/pseuds/SonjaJade
Summary: Brother’s got a really bad idea, and Al has a bad feeling about it- and makes sure to let Ed know it.





	

Al was reading a book, listening as the rain outside seemed to alternate between coming down in buckets and lightly sprinkling.  Occasionally, he’d also hear some thumps and bumps- likely some project Ed was working on, though lately his projects had been getting stranger and stranger.  Finally, Al couldn’t concentrate because of the noise.  Closing his book, he got up and went toward where the sounds were coming from.  
  
“Ed?” he yelled.  “What’re you doing?”  
  
“C’mere and see!  It’s awesome!” he replied as the sound of water came to Al’s ears.  
  
He opened the door to their cellar, dark and full of cobwebs since their mother’s death.  Ed had the place lit with some lamps, and in the middle of the room was their old washtub, full of all kinds of things mounded in the middle of a pool of water.  “The hell is that?” Al asked, more worried than ever after getting a glance at some of the glass bottles on the shelf that weren’t there yesterday: fluorine, iron, Sulphur.  There were some empty sacks on the ground; one said lime, another larger one said carbon…  
  
And he knew that transmutation circle the tub was sitting on anywhere.  That was the _taboo_ one.  
  
Ed beamed at him.  “I finally got everything together!  All the ingredients to make a blank human body!”  
  
Al scowled at him.  “You’re not still thinking about bringing Mom back are you?”  
  
Ed’s smile slipped from his face.  “Well, yeah, Al!  I mean, if we could bring her back-”  
  
“No!” Al said waving his hands in dismissal.  “Brother, there’s rules against doing stuff like this, and it exists for a reason!”  
  
“Please,” Ed said as he rolled his eyes, “those rules were made up to keep people from abusing the knowledge!  We’re just trying to bring our mom back, not some long dead general or evil mastermind or anything like that!”  
  
Al was furious now.  “You’re always breaking the rules, Ed!  Remember when Mom was alive and she’d tell you not to go past the Kriki River when we’d be out playing, and you _always_ went just over the bridge and ran right back?  This is just like that, except this time there’ll be consequences!”  
  
“You’re afraid of the cost?” Ed roared back.  “Our mom was taken away from us by some stupid illness!  If we can get her soul and put it into this new healthy body, she could live to be a hundred!”  
  
“And what are you going to exchange for her soul?  How far are you going to go to bring her back?  What if it turns out you have to exchange _your own soul_ for hers!?  Did you _think_ about that?”  
  
Ed crossed his arms, his eyes unwavering and steady.  “The pros outweigh the cons here.  All I need to begin is a DNA sample.”  
  
Al rolled his sleeves up, saying, “I am _not_ doing this, Edward…”  He charged at his brother, screaming, “And you’re not either!”  
  
Ed was caught off guard by the punch that cracked his chin, and he reeled backward into the wall, smacking his head.  Al threw one punch after another, anywhere he could stick one- his brother’s ribs, his belly, one in the nose- and then Ed started fighting back and Al felt the wind rush out of him as Ed knocked him in the chest with his knee.  
  
Al knew Ed was heavier and a little stronger, so he had to do something before he was overwhelmed.  He saw on the wall there was a half full bottle of ammonia and a mostly full bag of sulphur.  Knowing Ed had likely measured all of his ‘mummy’ ingredients very carefully, Al dashed toward them before Ed got to his feet.  
  
“Stop!” Ed shouted, watching with horror as Al uncapped the ammonia bottle and tossed it in the washtub.  Al didn’t listen and proceeded to tear the bag of sulphur open on top of all of it.  
  
He dusted his hands off before wiping at the sweat on his brow.  “Mom’s gone, Ed.  And I miss her like crazy, too- but not enough to do something I know is wrong.  She wouldn’t want us to do something like this, and you know it.”  
  
Ed had blood and tears streaming down his face.  He sank to his knees and gave into his sorrow, continuing to protest through his sobs.  Al took what remained of the water in the bucket and poured it on the ground, washing half of the transmutation circle away.  Then he sat down next to Ed.  
  
“Just because you _can_ do something, doesn’t mean you _should._ Besides, if something happened to you and this didn’t work after all, I would be all alone…  I won’t let you do that to me.”  
  
Ed threw his arms around him and sobbed out a very watery sounding apology, and Al hugged him in return, thankful that sanity seemed to return to his big brother, at least for the moment.  “Come on, let’s get your face cleaned up.  I’m sorry for hitting you, but I didn’t know how to stop you.”  
  
“Thanks, Al.  You’re right, as long as we have each other, we’ll be alright.”  
  
Later, when they were old and gray with grown children and grandchildren, Ed persuaded Al to ‘just see what happens’ if they had tried to bring back their mother.  After gathering the ingredients and supplying a drop of their blood into the mix, they found out just what they’d missed.


End file.
